Tonight, the city released a fact sheet on the Paseo del Mar landslide to keep residents updated. If you have questions that are not addressed here, please use the comments section below and we will pass them along to city officials.
Site Conditions
• The ocean frontage bluff areas of San Pedro were formed by tectonic uplift of the Palos Verdes hills and erosion of the slope by wave action and ocean currents. The ocean simultaneously wears away the base of the cliff, resulting in geological failure along the coastal roads since the 1930s.
• In October 2011, a section of Paseo Del Mar Street, bounded by Weymouth Avenue on the east and Western Avenue on the west, experienced a landslide event. The affected area has been moving for years.
• A multi‐agency effort is underway to address the impact of this geological instability and to ensure no one is injured or harmed. A hard road closure remains in place to both vehicles and pedestrians between Weymouth Avenue and Western Avenue on Paseo del Mar.
• This site area is extremely hazardous to vehicle, cyclist, pedestrian and pet traffic. Due to the instability of the ground movement and its rapid deterioration, government officials are strongly recommending that residents and visitors stay away from the area.
• The affected area of the landslide represents an immediate and lifethreatening hazard for individuals who enter the area.
Fencing in White Point Nature Preserve
• Due to the extremely dangerous site conditions, the City will be installing a fence adjacent to the nature trail in White Point Nature Preserve closest to the slide area. The purpose of this fence will be to preserve the safety of residents in the surrounding communities who may not be aware of the hazardous conditions. Installation of the fence will begin on Friday, November 11, 2011. It is expected to take approximately one week to complete the fence installation.
• In addition to fencing off the site area, the City is commissioning a wide variety of signage to be placed around the project area to warn of the potential for catastrophe.
• Residents and visitors to the Nature Preserve will still have access to the popular trails in the park that remain unaffected by the landslide.
Utility Relocations
• The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works is currently working to relocate a stormwater drain that previously ran through Paseo del Mar. The pipe is being relocated along an existing service road away from the slide area.
• Sewer and water lines remain capped, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is relocating power lines currently situated along the unstable hillsides. LADWP has completed temporary installation of overhead electric lines and wooden utility poles northeast of the Paseo Del Mar landslide inside the White Point Nature Preserve. The existing electrical lines that are supported on utility poles along Paseo Del Mar in the slide area have been de‐energized.
• The de‐energized high voltage lines will be removed along Paseo Del Mar from Weymouth to the west for several hundred feet. The immediate area around the slide has been deemed hazardous for crews to work; therefore the wire on these poles will remain. AT&T of California and Cox Communications have been notified of the urgency and are working to remove their facilities on the utility poles. The utilities will coordinate a strategy for removal of the wooden poles.
• Existing pole‐mounted street lights outside the hazard area will be left on and pole‐ mounted area lights have been installed to illuminate the landslide area.
Further Geotechnical Study
• A geotechnical study will establish the extent of the failure below the ground and identify weak and susceptible rock structure. It will enable the City to place monitoring instruments within the ground to evaluate where the surrounding land is stable. Proposals for this work will be solicited from geotechnical consultants. The solicitation will be released as early as Monday, November 14, 2011.
• From the time a task order is awarded, the field work is expected to take approximately 2 months, and a final report with conclusions and recommendations will be prepared after 6 months of instrumentation readings are taken.
• The City has funding for a previously approved project for repairs on Paseo del Mar that will no longer be needed given the subsurface conditions. The already budgeted funds can be redirected to the geotechnical study without any additional actions and are available to fund the contract once a geotechnical consultant is selected.
Public Services
• The Fire Department is aware of the road closure and has prepared an alternate route for emergency responses that would normally utilize Paseo del Mar. It has been determined that using this alternate route will have a negligible delay on response time to the area. All fire stations in the San Pedro area have been alerted of the hazard and are ready to respond to site related emergencies.
• LAPD will provide extra patrol to the project area to address vandalism of city equipment and monitor for trespassers. The watch commanders have directed the area patrols to issue citations to any citizen disobeying the posted signage in order to avoid potential accidents at the project site.
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Filed under: Construction, Landslide, Parks, Royal Palms, Streets and Traffic, Utilities, White Point
How long has White’s Point been regarded as unstable?